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Malcolm X
Metascore
72 out of 100

Generally favorable reviews - based on 9 Critics

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 6 out of 9
  2. Mixed: 3 out of 9
  3. Negative: 0 out of 9
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  1. Chicago Sun-Times
    Reviewed by: Roger Ebert
    100
    The film is inspirational and educational - and it is also entertaining, as movies must be before they can be anything else.
  2. The New York Times
    Reviewed by: Vincent Canby
    100
    Mr. Lee means for Malcolm X to be an epic, and it is in its concerns and its physical scope. In Denzel Washington it also has a fine actor who does for Malcolm X what Ben Kingsley did for “Gandhi.” [18 November 1992]
    All this critic's reviews
  3. Washington Post
    Reviewed by: Rita Kempley
    90
    A spiritually enriching testament to the human capacity for change -- and surely Spike Lee's most universally appealing film.
  4. TV Guide
    Reviewed by: Staff(not credited)
    80
    Lee's biography of the slain civil rights leader treats Malcolm, not as a political rallying point, but as a fully rounded individual whose life defies reduction to symbolic status.
  5. Washington Post
    Reviewed by: Desson Thomson
    80
    Lee's finest, most unabashed labor of love.
  6. Austin Chronicle
    Reviewed by: Marjorie Baumgarten
    67
    A mortal movie about an immortal subject and the very fact that it succeeds as well as it does is a testament to Lee's skills as a filmmaker.
  7. Variety
    Reviewed by: Staff(not credited)
    60
    The picture comes up short in several departments, notably in pacing and in giving a strong sense of why this man became such a legend.
  8. The New Yorker
    Reviewed by: Terrence Rafferty
    60
    The movie is disappointingly impersonal; it doesn't provide readers of the autobiography anything like a fresh vision of its remarkable subject.
  9. Chicago Reader
    Reviewed by: Jonathan Rosenbaum
    40
    Lee has tried hard to give this shapeless picture some visual patterning though the cluttered effect created by his mistrust of silence is even more harmful than in the past.
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User Reviews

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User Score
8.6 out of 10

Universal acclaim- based on 25 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 9 out of 10
  2. Mixed: 1 out of 10
  3. Negative: 0 out of 10
  1. Doehl
    9
    Spike Lee has brought one of the best biopics in american history with a performance from Washington that brings out the angry intensity his controversial character was known for.… Full Review »
  2. Marko
    10
    Denzel Washington 'became' Malcolm X. It is still eerie and brilliant today. The film gives rare insight into Malcolm's 'anger' and life in America in the 40's-60's.… Full Review »
  3. SeamusS.
    7
    Compelling and mostly entertaining. A good job.
See all user reviews »